The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1887-03-12
CHAPTER XIV.
THE COLONEL HAS A PLAN.

SI1Ah l. Eli AlN.
THE COLONEL HAS PLAN
How Colonel Lyndon passed the weeks
that interviewed between his departure from
Scotland and certain morning late in De-
cember when We meet him again, it would
be difficult for any one-difficult even for
himself-to have told
Before his visit to Lady Flora he had, as
We shall remember. been the prey of a
feeling which 10 him was both novel and
disagreeable. He was like one in a new world
"a world which has no particular claim on
him. and no post in 1t that he can I'LL bet
ter than any one else.
With his visit TO Scotland much OF this
painful feeling passed away. He found
that domestic life has pleasures of its own,
and that one may live wisely and well with
ont the ceaseless activity of body and mind
| that had marked his former life.
Then arose the dream, whose course we
have endeavored to trace-the dream of a
new happiness and new service-which
| made him for few weeks as happy as a
boy. That dream. as We know, vanished
| swiftly.
When the Colonel returned to his
chambers in Piccadilly, and took up, or
tiled to take up. his life again, he found
| himself where h. had been before-a
| stranger III strange country-a man with
| no aim III life, With nothing to arouse his
| hopes or employ his energies; and for a
| time a feeling of extreme listlessness came
over him.
This was due partly, no doubt, to the
| change from the bracing air of the moors
| III August to the closeness of the London
streets. 1t startled the Colonel to find
| himself unable to awake at his usual hour
| in the morning. tired after short walk,
and shrinking from any extraordinary ex-
| ertion. Sternty he took himself to task.
| Was he, after all he had seen and done,
| nothing better than a chicken-hea
| weakling that a disappointment should
| change him so? Could he not live alone?
| One path to use and service being closed TO
| him, were there 10 others? Some one
| sureiy-some one in the world somewhere
had need OF him. In giving way to this
| unworthy depression, he was dishonoring
| his God, and depriving his fellows of the
| good he might do them.
F, He ran down to High Cliffe and stayed
| there for time. The good old rector, who
| had known him from his boyhood, had
| fallen into i'll health, and was troubled by
not being able to do what he had done in
the parish. The Colonel put himself at
his disposition, and tried to carry out his
ideas, but be did not understand the ways
Of the clergy. There were things done
done. lie believed, with the best intentions
! with which he could not agree. After
| several weeks spent in an honest effort to
understand the working of the parish, he
| told the rector that it would be better for
them both that they should call in profess
! sional aid.
| Il will gladly pay fer curate, he said;
"he will help You better than | can. ] sup
| pose" he added, with a smile, for the rec
tor looked distressed, Il am still too much
of soldier for this kind of work"
There is not discipline enough among
us for you, said the rector.
Perhaps it is that Anyway, this is not
my vocation. | must try London again.
In London, Colonel Lyndon spent the
months of November and December.
| He had recovered from his first depres-
| sion, and he found various ways of employ
| ing his supertuous leisure, money, and en-
| ergv. But. III spite of everything, the days
went by somewhat YEARLY. He WAS not
miserable, but he was not happy. To a
man accustomed to lay out his DAYS with
military precision, to know exactly what his
| duties are, ana to take up each one as it
comes with enthusiasm, it is perplexing TO
have to look ont for suitable tasks, and the
Colonel felt ii SO.
| There We're some bright points in that
| winter Ill London. One was & most uneX-
pecte1 meeting with Veronica Browne. She
| was staying with her uncle. Alexander
| Smith, and one evening when the Colonel
was dining at his house he found her in the
drawing room. This was the first of several
meetings. Both of them enjoyed talking
over their Scotch experiences. Veronica,
who was i'll full correspondence with Janet
/; Mackenzie. could give the Colonel the
lot. l.
that 1t was on their account, not her own,
that he liked to meet her; but this did not
yeX her, as it might have done formerly.
| He. on his side felt very friendly toward
her. She puzzled him little, and ne could
not help watching her sometimes, and won
| dering If the change he saw. or fancied he
saw. in her manner and bearing was due TO
his imagination or had any basis in reality
SO much softer ard gentler she seemed,
with new thoughtfulness in her express
/ sien-not flashing out the first clever
speech that came into her brain, but sit
| ting. often silent, waiting for others to
| speak.
One day the Colonel asked Veronica S
/ uncle If he thought she was quite we'll, and
| the answer he received confirmed him in
his belief that some change had really come
! over her.
"She has never been the same since her
! visit To Scotland" Mr.. Smith said; lev
wife SAYS it is her illness there-the
/ spraiued ankle, You know-but | think
there Is something more in it,"
/ 20 the Colonel thought, and very curl
Gus theory began TO shape itself in his
mind. If Ter trouble was mental, that
meant that she was in love The Colonel
! could imagine no other trouble to Girl in
| Nefonica's position. 1t might be intellect
| nal, Of course: he had heard of peeple
| fretting themselves into their graves over
| Positiyism and the Darwinian theory. but
! he did not think she was woman of that
type
But if Neronieas trouble dated from her
| visit to Scotland, and if il was A love
trouble. whom could it be about but Percy
Nmstaniey: She had refused him. indeed;
! but that, tn Colouel believed. meant moth
| ing. More frequently than not. il report
F, spoke traly. girls said No when they
wished tn say Yes But if this were So
| ami II Percy and his mother were still of
/, the same mind-tle Colonel was certain of
! the fmthtulness OF Lady Flora. but he was
| rather inclined to doubt her son-might
nol matters be set right. He became q,lite
! animated as he thought il all out
lie had, indeed. had another idea. Percy
| Nustanley : rapturous exclamation on the
| night Wen Lefty read him her little lec
/ tuft--~ Have yoa found out that she is
| lovely, eN luisitely lovely: often in
| his ears, aod he had interpreted il after his
| Own fashion: 1I2t what more likely than
| that h had i'eea wrong2
| 1hat evening The Colonel wrote a letter
| 10 Percy. which. lie hattered himself. was
highly diplomatic.
Il am established in London for the
winter. be Wlote. There are not many
attractions now, but, as YOU remarked
vhep you were here in the summer. Lon
| don g London that is to say, one of the
| mos wonderful places IN the world. Win
ter IS dull in the north, and see from the
papers that your weather is none of the
best What do YOU say to trip south:
could put You up. and it would enliven me
to have yon here for a little. Bv-the-bv.
there - an attraction. With the natural
peryersltS IF her ss1, Miss Browne chncs TO
this gloomy old town. She is now stayino
with her uncte, SIR, Smith. whom | rnsef